Three Dimension Neuron Imaging Using 123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography to Guide Ventricular Tachycardia Ablations

Ventricular tachycardia is the next frontier in cardiology. Patients that have scar in the heart (for example after heart attacks) are at an increased risk of developing ventricular tachycardia. In these patients ventricular tachycardia represents an electrical wave front that circulates in the heart muscle using the scar in the heart. An increasing number of patients with ventricular tachycardia require cauterization (burning away) of the tissue to treat this life-threatening condition. The goal of this cauterization or ablation is to destroy "highways of surviving tissue" inside the scar, that allow ventricular tachycardia to exist. However, this can be very lengthy procedure (>5 hours) that has only a moderate success in the long run. Therefore, new treatment approaches are needed to make this procedure better.

The purpose of this study is to assess if radio tracers showing the nerve distribution in the heart (cardiac innervation) can be used in addition to the current technology ("voltage mapping") to identify the area that needs to be ablated (burnt away) to treat life-threatening fast heart rates (ventricular tachycardia)

Certain patterns of nerve distribution in the heart (sympathetic cardiac innervation) have been shown to predict outcome for different heart diseases, like heart transplant, coronary artery disease, heart failure, arrhythmias. One substance that allows visualization of the cardiac innervation is 123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (123I-MIBG), which could provide additional information to understand and treat ventricular tachycardia.